Vive launching a new VR headset that doesn't need a PC or phone

HTC Vive has announced a new standalone virtual reality headset for 2017 that will operate without a PC or inserted phone. In other words, the machinery is inside the headset.

The only image currently available.

It’s described as “lightweight” by the marketing blurb, and as “standalone VR”, which is what you’ll be doing with it on your head so it makes sense.

There are no product specs published so it’s unclear how powerful the headset will be, and whether it will run existing Vive video games. It will use Google’s Daydream platform. And that’s all we know.

But in order to play it you also need a very capable PC, and the headset wired into it all times. As our Chris Bratt found out, it’s not an easy set-up, and not something you’ll have out and set-up at all times. The idea of cable-free VR, therefore, is alluring.